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Thursday, 31 March 2016

Dicemasters, the game that has single handed done more then anything else to get me interested in the fantastic world of super heroes, as well as it being a fantastic game of course!

This latest set is Worlds finest, which features Superman and Batman as the main "teams" in the pack, all with faction icons on their cards for characters that lean to one side or the other.

Dicemasters plays fast, is fun and filled with tactical choices, do you spend your energy on characters to play? or ability dice to boost your energy production and help. Do you reroll that character to try and get a higher level or play him as he is? When to attack and defend, all of these things require thought and planning, but the way the game plays you will never be slowed down, you can play plenty of games in a short space of time and enjoy them all.

The fact you can pick up boosters for £1 to expand your forces, and all the sets are compatible with each other add another level to the game meaning the teambuilding part of the game is just massive, you want to add some Dragons from the Dungeons and Dragons set to fight alongside Superman? you can. You want Orc warriors running around with Batman? you can. The collectability and customisation of the game is huge.

to learn more about how Dicemasters plays and see our review on the D&D Dicemasters Starter set head over here. Time to dive in!

The art is great, with of course the main two protagonists of the set on the cover.

The box has great art on all sides.

On the back you get a list of the contents to give you an idea, this is a great set for two players, new starters, or to bulk out your collection.

Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Here we are to take a looka t the latest wave of Star Trek Attack wing, and first up we get some support for the Klingon Empire. The K't'inga may be an older class of ship when compared to the Galaxy or Defiant, but do not underestimate her, she packs plenty of firepower and can still hold her own, and like the Federations own Excelsior class, she has proved her worth through many engagements.

The IKS Amar was a Klingon K't'inga-class battle cruiser that was in service with the Klingon Imperial Fleet in the late 23rd century.
In the mid-2270s, the Amar led a three-ship patrol formation when they intercepted the V'ger cloud as it traversed Klingon space. The Amar fired three photon torpedoes at the cloud to no effect. After determining their weapons had no effect on the cloud, they attempted to perform evasive maneuvers and were subsequently destroyed by plasma energy bolts fired from the cloud. Before its destruction, the Amar sent a transmission which was intercepted by a Federation sensor drone. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

Wednesday, 23 March 2016

Continuing with our Journey into Heroclix we got to take a look at a set of boosters for the Superman Wonder Woman set. These can be used in any of your Heroclix games, and will provide a nice assortment of characters to choose from when building your teams.

I love the art on the boxes, and was very excited to dive in and see what we got, I will advise Olivia's favourite from each box, and mine as well.

Monday, 21 March 2016

The Robinson was a Jem'Hadar attack ship captured by Captain Benjamin Sisko and the crew of Deep Space 9 in the Gamma Quadrant in 2373.

n that year, the attack ship was carrying a Founder, a Vorta and forty-two Jem'Hadar when it crashed on Torga IV. The inertial dampers failed, killing the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar soldiers and severely injuring the Changeling. The ship crashed into the side of a mountain, embedding itself into the rock.

Captain Sisko and his crew, who were on the planet at the time, saw the ship entering the atmosphere and transported to the crash site. The crew entered the upside-down ship and discovered the dead occupants.
Sisko was determined to salvage the ship, calling it "the greatest intelligence find in the last ten years". Seeing the Danube-class runabout was not powerful enough to remove the ship from the surface, Sisko contacted Major Kira Nerys and ordered her to bring the USS Defiant to Torga IV.
While examining the ship on Torga IV, Commanders Dax and Worf
noted that although structurally similar to its sister ships, this
particular attack ship had several unfamiliar systems not found on other
attack ships.

Three months into the Dominion War in 2374, the attack ship was brought to Starbase 375, where Sisko and his crew trained for two weeks on it before using it to destroy a ketracel-white facility in Cardassian space.
Several hours after the warship left the starbase, it was attacked by the USS Centaur near the border. The ship crossed the border, but the Centaur continued its attack until it detected three other Dominion ships.
Several hours later, the warship arrived at the facility, where the crew transported eighty-four canisters to the facility, one filled with ultritium and a detonator. However, soon after the facility transported canisters to the warship, it raised its security net.

The ultritium detonated early, allowing the ship to escape. However,
it was caught in the explosion and severely damaged. Most serious of
all, the warship's warp core matrix had been destroyed, leaving the ship without warp drive and seventeen years from the nearest Federation starbase.

Chief O'Brien began repairs, but they were interrupted by the appearance of two Jem'Hadar ships. Sisko saw a dark-matter nebula nearby and ordered Commander Dax to set a course. Just then, the ship was rocked by weapons fire and Dax's console exploded, throwing her to the deck. The ship then hit a gravitational spike, damaging it even more. It was then caught in the gravity of a planet in the nebula, and entered its atmosphere.
The ship crashed into a sea, but the crew were able to escape to a nearby area of land using a raft. The attack ship sank soon after.

Friday, 18 March 2016

Time for another battle report for you from Battle Cry, with me taking the role as the Confederates, and Olivia commanding the Union forces. In the last battle Olivia led a glorious Union Victory, will the North's luck continue? or will the South turn the tables?

The Battle of Belmont was fought on November 7, 1861 in Mississippi County, Missouri. It was the first combat test in the American Civil War for Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the future Union Army general in chief and eventual U.S. president; Grant's troops in this battle were the "nucleus" of the Union Army of the Tennessee.

On November 6, Grant moved by riverboat from Cairo, Illinois, to attack the Confederate's small outpost near Belmont, Missouri across the Mississippi River from the Confederate stronghold at Columbus, Kentucky. He landed his men on the Missouri side and marched to Belmont. Grant's troops overran the surprised Confederate camp and destroyed it. However, the scattered Confederate forces quickly reorganized and were reinforced from Columbus. They then counterattacked, supported by heavy artillery fire from across the river. Grant retreated to his riverboats and took his men to Paducah, Kentucky. The battle was relatively unimportant, but with little happening elsewhere at the time, it received considerable attention in the press.

At 8:30 a.m. on November 7, Grant's force disembarked at Hunter's Farm, 3 miles north of Belmont, out of range of the six Confederate batteries at Columbus. (The Columbus heavy water batteries featured 10-inch Columbiads and 11-inch howitzers and one gun, the "Lady Polk", was the largest in the Confederacy, a 128-pounder Whitworth rifle.) He marched his men south on the single road, clearing the obstructions of fallen timber that formed an abatis. A mile away from Belmont, they formed a battle line in a corn field. The line consisted of the 22nd Illinois Infantry, 7th Iowa Infantry, 31st Illinois Infantry, 30th Illinois Infantry, and 27th Illinois Infantry, intermixed with a company of cavalry. The Confederate battle line, on a low ridge northwest of Belmont, from north to south, was made up of the 12th Tennessee Infantry, 13th Arkansas Infantry, 22nd Tennessee Infantry, 21st Tennessee Infantry, and 13th Tennessee Infantry.

Grant's attack drove in the Confederate skirmish line and for the remainder of the morning, both armies, consisting of green recruits, advanced and fell back repeatedly. By 2 p.m., the fighting became one-sided as Pillow's line began to collapse, withdrawing toward Camp Johnston. The orderly retreat began to panic when four Federal field pieces opened up on the retreating soldiers. A volley from the 31st Illinois killed dozens of Confederates, and the Union soldiers attacked from three sides and surged into the camp. The Confederates abandoned their colours and their artillery, and ran towards the river, attempting to escape. Grant was constantly at the front, leading his men. His horse was shot from under him, but he mounted an aide's horse and continued to lead.

Grant's inexperienced soldiers became, in his own words, "demoralized from their victory." Brig. Gen. McClernand walked to the centre of the camp, which now flew the Stars and Stripes, and asked for three cheers. A bizarre, carnival-like atmosphere prevailed upon the troops, carried away by the joy of their victory, having captured several hundred prisoners and the camp. To regain control of his men, who were plundering and partying, Grant ordered the camp set on fire. In the confusion and blinding smoke, wounded Confederate soldiers in some of the tents were accidentally burned to death, causing returning Confederates to believe the prisoners had been deliberately murdered.

The Federals began to march back to their transports, taking with them two captured guns and 106 prisoners. They were suddenly attacked by Confederate reinforcements brought over on the transports Prince and Charm who threatened to cut off Grant's retreat. These were the men of the 15th Tennessee Infantry, the 11th Louisiana Infantry, and mixed infantry under Pillow and Col. Benjamin F. Cheatham. As the Union men turned to face the Confederate reinforcements, the cannon "Lady Polk" fired into their ranks from Columbus and numerous other Confederate guns opened fire. The Union gunboats exchanged in a battle with the Confederate batteries. Grant said, "Well, we must cut our way out as we cut our way in."
When Grant reached the landing, he learned that one Union regiment was unaccounted for. Grant galloped back to look for it, but found only Confederate soldiers moving in his direction. He spun his horse and raced for the river, but saw that the riverboat captains had already ordered the mooring lines cast off. Grant wrote in his memoirs, "The captain of the boat that had just pushed out recognized me and ordered the engineer not to start the engine: he then had a plank run out for me. My horse seemed to take in the situation. He put his fore feet over the bank without hesitation or urging, and, with his hind feet well under him, slid down the bank and trotted on board."While the riverboats were returning the missing Illinois regiment was seen marching upriver and the men were taken aboard

The Confederates viewed Belmont as a Southern victory, since Grant had staged a demonstration and been driven off. Union losses were 607 (120 dead, 383 wounded, and 104 captured or missing). Confederate casualties were slightly higher at 641 (105 killed, 419 wounded, 106 captured, and 11 missing). A noteworthy result of the battle was the combat and large unit command experience Grant gained. It also gave President Abraham Lincoln, who was desperate for his armies to attack the Confederates somewhere, a positive impression of Grant

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

Heroclix has been around a while now, in various forms and ranges, though the Superhero lines tend to be the most popular and long lived.
Strange as it may sound I have played Heroclix before, though I have heard plenty of things about it in the past, so I thought its about time to take a deeper look at the models, and follow our journey in to game.

In the first stop on our Heroclix journey we will be taking a look at "Worlds Finest" fast forces.
The Pack contains six figures, and a special model (in this case a weapon pod from Batman) and all the cards you need for your characters. Heroclix boosters are bought blind, as in boxed so you are never sure what you are getting, but with this Fast force, you can see the characters clearly, and can see the theme.

The back has some very nice artwork, and a little overview, stating that Fast Forces are the quickest way for you to get in the game. Is that the case? lets see.......

Monday, 14 March 2016

The Kumari was an Andorian battle cruiser that was in service with the Andorian Imperial Guard during the mid-22nd century. It was named after the first ice cutter to circumnavigate Andoria, and was the first starship of her class.

The Kumari was put under the command of Commander Shran in 2142.

The Kumari was capable of speeds in excess of warp 5 and was armed with advanced weaponry and a tractor beam. In 2154, the ship had a crew complement of 86.

In December 2153, the Kumari entered the Delphic Expanse in search of the Earth starship Enterprise NX-01. After spending several weeks following Enterprise's warp trail, the Kumari rendered assistance in capturing a Xindi prototype superweapon. It was only discovered later that the Andorians intended to take the weapon for themselves, though Enterprise's captain Jonathan Archer prevented Shran from doing so by detonating the prototype. The Kumari escaped destruction, but suffered heavy damage.

On February 14, 2154, the Kumari followed the trail of the Xindi superweapon and lent assistance to Enterprise's attempt to destroy the weapon before it could attack Earth. The Kumari engaged and destroyed Commander Dolim's Xindi warship, providing a critical diversion to allow Archer's team to board the weapon and destroy it.

Later that year, the Kumari was assigned to lead a covert task force of five warships inside a nebula, monitoring local space. Attempting to warn Shran of the Vulcan intent to invade Andoria, Enterprise located the Kumari with the help of Vulcan Ambassador Soval. Though Shran was initially reluctant to trust Soval and the Enterprise
crew, he eventually agreed to pass their information on to the Imperial
Guard. While the Imperial Guard ultimately agreed to redeploy its
forces to counter the invasion, the Kumari was but only one ship in a small and hastily deployed fleet consisting of Enterprise and five other Andorian vessels. The fleet, however, succeeded in holding off a dozen Vulcan cruisers at the Battle of Andoria long enough for Archer, back on Vulcan, to provide information leading to the removal of Administrator V'Las, leader of the Vulcan High Command and main proponent of the invasion. The Kumari drew fire away from Enterprise on at least one occasion during the battle.

While escorting the Andorian ambassador to the trade conference on Babel in November 2154, the Kumari was destroyed by a Romulan drone-ship posing as a Tellarite vessel. Only 19 of the 86 crew members, including Shran and Lieutenant Talas, managed to get away in escape pods. They were later rescued by Enterprise, where Shran and Archer held a toast to the ship, commenting on the futures of both of their ships.

Thursday, 10 March 2016

The Cardassian ATR-4107 was a type of advanced Cardassian weapon of mass destruction.

Although officially referred to as a missile, the ATR-4107 could also be considered a completely autonomous warship in its own right. It was a warp-capable vessel carrying 1,000 kilograms of matter and 1,000 kilograms of antimatter – enough to destroy a small moon. The missile also carried a large cache of conventional weaponry, including disruptors, quantum torpedoes, a thoron shock emitter and a plasma wave. On board was a sophisticated computer system that could predict and counter hostile actions, as well as life support and an operational space for a maintenance crew. The defenses are an array of offensive weapons and a powerful shield system.

Its been a while since we had a new ship for the Dominion, so lets see how this one measures up.

Monday, 7 March 2016

Time to take a look at the latest chapter pack from A Game of Thrones the LCG. As you may know from other articles im a huge fan of the series both book and TV and of the game, so its really exciting to see what new characters will be added to the mix.

“I must have the gold cloaks. The City Watch is two thousand strong, sworn to defend the castle, the city, and the king's peace.”–George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

The King’s Peace is the third Chapter Pack in the Westeros cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, and it continues the cycle’s journey through the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire with memorable characters like Ser Rodrik Cassel, Ser Alliser Thorne, and Ser Gregor Clegane. Two new plots—one neutral and one loyal to House Baratheon—offer new deckbuilding opportunities. Finally, this Chapter Pack includes a brand-new agenda that’s sure to inspire entirely new types of decks. Lets open the box and take a look at the cards.......

Thursday, 3 March 2016

The USS Valiant (NCC-74210) was a 24th century Federation Defiant-class starship operated by Starfleet. The Valiant was launched from the Antares Ship Yards in 2372. It was assigned as a training ship for the elite cadet corps Red Squad under the command of Captain Ramirez.

In late-2373, the Valiant began a three month training cruise mission to circumnavigate the entire Federation before returning home. The plan was for the cadets to run the ship while the officers aboard observed and critiqued their performance.

The ship was transiting the Kepla sector when the Dominion War began, and subsequently trapped behind enemy lines after a Dominion fleet conquered that sector on the first day. In attempting to return to Federation territory, the Valiant encountered a Cardassian battle cruiser near El-Gatark. In the first fifteen minutes, all seven of the regular officers were killed or critically wounded, including the captain. The Valiant lost main power and was adrift; fortunately the Cardassian cruiser was no better off. The cadets got weapons and impulse engines back on-line within three hours, and were able to destroy that cruiser. The next day, just before Ramirez died, he appointed Cadet Tim Watters to the command.

Early in the war, Starfleet ordered the Valiant to track and collect technical data on a previously unidentified Jem'Hadar battleship that was believed to be operating in the area. However, because the Valiant was operating under complete radio silence and limited to a speed of warp 3.2, Starfleet was unaware that the ship's officers were dead, and Watters decided to undertake the mission.
Around Stardate 51825, the Valiant rescued Jake Sisko and Ensign Nog from the runabout Shenandoah, which was fleeing from a Jem'Hadar attack on Starbase 257. Nog assisted the Valiant's crew in repairing their warp drive, and the ship finally managed to catch up to the Dominion battleship and obtain detailed intelligence concerning the enemy's capabilities.

Captain Watters' overconfidence, however, proved to be the Valiant's
undoing. Rather than returning the valuable information to Starfleet,
Watters decided to attempt to destroy the battleship by exploiting a
perceived flaw in her construction. Vastly outgunned, the Valiant was quickly devastated after an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the enemy's antimatter
storage system primary support braces. With Captain Watters and most
of the bridge crew killed, Nog gave the order to abandon ship. Two of
the four escape pods launched were destroyed by the Jem'Hadar ship, while a third was destroyed when it was unable to clear the exploding Valiant. The remaining pod was able to flee the battle area and was eventually recovered by the Valiant's sister ship, the USS Defiant.
Out of a crew of 35 (plus Nog and Jake), only three survived the battle.

I do love the Defiant class ships, so another one in the range is always welcomed. So lets take a look.